Managing Reference Today: New Models and Best Practices. Cassell, Kay Ann

Revisiting Mackay Online

Management Talk to industry old-timers about technological changes in the oilfield decades ago and their comments will likely be low-key, despite where they worked geographically or for which companies. While technology has evolved dramatically in the last 50 years, there was not a steady stream of "eurekas" echoing innovations. Instead, workplace-changing big ideas only bubbled to the surface every now and then. We now have a decidedly quicker pace of innovation. Imagine going back in time—even only 20 years—and telling operational personnel that in 2008 one major oilfield service company currently has more than 230 technologies in active development. This proliferation of new product development has delivered remarkable new efficiencies to rigs while requiring that management gain an enhanced understanding of how brand-new technology fits into overall drilling operations and how to best introduce the technology. Innovation as Part of the Whole The importance of innovation, in terms of how it goes beyond new product capabilities, is illustrated by a recent roundtable of representatives from majors, independents, and oilfield service companies, addressing the ramifications of technological innovation. Topics ranged from influences on the innovation process to where innovation fits in mergers and acquisitions, from the always critical technology adoption challenge to risk mitigation—all key management issues that transcend what is going on in the laboratory. As a result of forward-looking management at companies, innovative R&D is not occurring in a corporate vacuum. Rather, potential innovations are "valued" at technology forums where presentations are given on a company's latest trends. From feedback out of the forums, tools and systems are refined and new ones developed, enabling operations personnel to produce better results out of existing assets or to find new assets. In other words, the purpose of these presentations or fact-finding is, or should be, to discuss where investment money ought to be best-focused regarding the impact on current or new product lines, so that R&D actually makes a drilling performance difference—not simply introducing new technology for technology's sake. Because the development of new technology for field usage can be extremely expensive, these informational exchanges include focusing on which technologies can feasibly become immediate introductions and which are long term. Clear Understandings Developing and implementing new oilfield technology demands a clear understanding of how the overall process should work to be genuinely effective. Specifically, instead of a general game plan about taking ideas from concept to customer usage, management needs to delineate new product focus along the lines of delivering diversity, quality, and value. In so doing, each new technology or comprehensive drilling solution should ideally include technically advanced, field-proven systems that increase drilling efficiency; enhance health, safety, and environment programs; and maximize customers’ lifecycle economics.

Along with the unceasing improvement of the social information level, the big data idea and the technology change people’s thinking cognition and the work habit, and also have become the important topics for studying the mental health education of college students. Based on the opportunities and challenges resulting from big data in mental health education of college students, this paper analyzes and explains such issues as the complicated educational management system, insufficient integration of discipline construction, the lack of standardization of teaching arrangements and the low level of “three-oriented” faculty in mental health education of college students. In order to strengthen the consciousness of data analysis and the concept of information education, the paper puts forward such scientific countermeasures as building big data platforms, health service institutions and educational teaching models, improving mental health education activities and building sound security mechanisms for mental health education in colleges and universities, so as to realize the organic integration of big data and college students’ mental health education, and lay a solid foundation for the future of college mental health education.

Capitalizing on untapped potential and quantifying risk is the key to success in a turbulent commodity industry. Mature fields have seen it all. Periods of high oil price have invited increased investment and pushed boundaries, while low-oil-price periods have had a severe effect on the fields’ sustainability and development. Mature fields have existed through a time of great technological change and stand on the cusp of their ultimate fate—either to maximize recovery with the lowest possible expenditures amid tightening environmental regulations or to close the taps and prepare for painful abandonments. In a capital-intensive industry, mistakes often are unforgiving and the costs of uncertainty and error are great. Fluctuating technological, political, and business influences add to the volatility and risk in selecting the next big idea for mature fields. The framework and success of future opportunities is reliant on the data used to quantify them, and this is something of which all mature fields have plenty. As they have delivered value throughout their life, the uncertainty associated with them reduces, and the new ideas discussed here come to light. Alternative use of wells for geothermal energy generation, carbon sequestration in depleted reservoirs, and the use of machine learning to maximize recovery are solutions that provide insight into how diverse the scope of mature field rejuvenation ideas can be. These solutions have something in common, however; they aim to capitalize on data, modularize problems, and structure a sustainable solution. These solutions are scalable, upgradable, and, most importantly, cost-effective for large and small operators. The upstream sector has long valued efficiency and accuracy. Small improvements in mature fields can make a significant economic difference with an established infrastructure in place. Value in large mature fields still exists, but one has to know where to look and what lenses to use. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. IPTC 21436 Permeability Prediction Using Rock Typing, Flow-Zone Indicator, and Machine-Learning Techniques in a Brownfield Offshore Malaysia by Budi Priyatna Kantaatmadja, Petronas, et al. SPE 208204 Generating Value From Mature Gas Fields by Quantifying Well-Integrity Assurance With a Critical Analysis of Multiple Logs and Retrieved Tubular Surface Inspection by Christna Golaco, Sharjah National Oil Corporation, et al. SPE 209988 Successful Reservoir Management and Optimization of Mature Steamflood Projects Using Artificial Intelligence by Andrei Popa, Chevron, et al.